Moments
by Der schwarze Prinz
Summary: Short Stories about every Baker.
1. Fairytale gone bad

_I try to write one short story about every Baker. The first one is a story about Sarah. _

_I try to make as less as I can, but I can not promise that there aren´t any mistakes. _

_I do not own _Cheaper by the dozen.

Fairytale gone bad _Sarah_

She did not thought it would end like that. It felt so wrong, being pushed away.

"It is because of her, isn´t it?", Sarah Baker asked her boyfriend Elliot Murtaugh.

"No", he answered.

Sarah opened her eyes and watched him confused. But it had to be because of this other girl, that now she, Sarah, was not good enough anymore.

"Look, Sarah. We had a nice time..."

_Sarah suddenly saw herself and Elliot sitting at the lake, holding hands. _

_She remembered everything, the sunset, the silence, the smell of fresh air. Sarah had become a little bit nervous then, knowing something would happen to her. It was when Elliot lay his arm around her and kissed her on the front of her head. _

"_I have to tell you something, Sarah..."_

"..but I have to tell you this. You have to know what I feel now." Elliot did not look in her eyes. Like it was hard for him. But what did he know...

"I just have not the same feelings for you anymore. It changed..."

"It suddenly changed? From one day to the other your feelings changed?!", she cried out loud and made her hands to fists. That could not be true. They have loved each other. That could not be over so soon.

"_..I love you." It seemed like it took a lot for him to tell her, but the moment he did, Sarah´s heart made a jump and then beat twice times faster then normal. It was like the sun shined only for them, like the birds would only sing for those two young lovers. _

"But we were happy", Sarah told him. She did not understood what happened here. Why it happened. Was suddenly the world against her?

_It was like the world would move one in one with her heartbeat. _

"_I love you, too." Suddenly those words weren´t so strange anymore. They were just correct. _

_She turned her head and let Elliot kiss her softly. _

"Please, Sarah. Don´t make it so complicated", Elliot moaned.

"I am not making it complicated. I just tell you the facts!" Sarah noticed, that she had screamed. Some of the other peoples around them gave them unpleasant looks.

Elliot rolled his eyes, like she was getting on his nerves. Was this the sweet boy she had given her heart? It had been so perfect...

"_Come on, Sarah", he told her. "I want to watch the sunset with you.."_

"So it´s over now...", a voice asked, sounding much like hers.

Elliot nodded. "I am sorry Sarah."

"Don´t..." She grabbed her bag and started to run, up to the Bakers house, into her room, where she fell down on her bed and started to cry. Outside someone laughed and Sarah wanted him to stop because laughing was so wrong.

"Sarah?" She turned her wet face to the door were someone had said her name and saw Jake standing in the door, making an uncontrollable beat with his feet and not seeing into her eyes.

_Sarah came home late this night, singing softly in joy, when she met Jake on the floor. _

"_Where have you been?", he wanted to know._

_That was definitely the wrong sentence, it was nothing he should care for. _

"_Why should I tell you?" _

"_I worried about you..."_

_Lie, was the word, that was formed in Sarah´s mind. _

"_I have been out with Elliot." Sarah recognized Jakes eyes becoming smaller. _

_He behaved so obnoxiously. Tonight was a good night to let him see this. _

_She went up to him and spoke very slowly. _

"_It has been so nice."_

"Go away, Jake!" Sarah did not want him to see her like that. She did not want that he had a chance to feel like the winner.

He did not went. "What´s wrong?", he asked instead of it.

"_Mum and Dad have been worried", Jake said, while Sarah could see that he tried to ignore her last words, but it did not work so well. _

"_And angry", Jake tried to smile devil. "They are angry, because you did not come home the time they told you to..."_

"_Stop behaving like a goody goody, Jake", Sarah said angry. Why did he not hold her back free, like she would have done?_

"Everything is nice, Jake. Go skating now and leave me alone, because that´s what you want to do!", Sarah screamed, not thinking for the other family members that could be in the house.

"_Like I said, I was worried", Jake told her, making a grim face. _

"_But you do not have to worry. I can look after myself very well. And if I am allowed to remind you, Jake: You are just my little brother. You don´t need to look after me, okay?"_

"You would not care, either", she told him. "Or it would be great for you..."

"_It´s just that you live in a fairytale, Sarah. And one day you will wake up and..."_

_She cut him off. "Stop that Jake, I know what´s wrong with you. You are jealous! You are jealous, you can not handle your sister going out with your best friend!" With that, Sarah slummed her door and did not speak to Jake again. _

"You can tell me", Jake said shyly.

She could not hold it anymore. "He broke up!", she cried. "He left me alone, we are not a pair any longer."

Jakes face froze for a moment, then he sat down next to her and put his arms around her. This moment Sarah broke down finally and let the tears fall down on his shirt.

"Do you want me to kill him for you?" Jake asked.

Sarah had to laugh. "No...I think it´s enough if you stay with me now..."

_Please review and tell me what you think (and perhaps if there are serious mistakes). If you want, you can tell me, about whom the next chapter shall be in yor review, you can choose between Lorraine, Kim and Nigel, because those are the stories I have already written. _


	2. Open your eyes

_Okay, first thanks a lot to_ life sucks deal with it , Lauren-95 and Brookie Cookie Renee _for reviewing , I am happy you liked it. I am a little bit embarrassed because Brookie Cookie Renee wished a chapter Jake talking to Sarah after her brake up, but I never planned such a story, because it was meant as a short story with an open ending (because that´s what a short story is)._

_So I am trying to write such a chapter, but I can not promise that it will be good. _

Open your eyes (_Jake)_

His brain told him to listen to her and to go away. To go skating.

Jake barely knew how to talk to his sister anymore, but his heart made him hold on and his legs

won´t move, so he cursed them, because he felt really helpless and it would be the best and easiest if he would went.

But seeing Sarah sitting on her bed, crying like she never cried before, Jake had real problems to remember when he saw her crying the last time, made him sad and he wanted to help her.

"You would not care either", Sarah said, "Or it would be great for you..."

His heart stopped for a moment. How could she think, something what made her cry like this, could be great for him?

Say something, a voice in his head told him.

"You can tell me", he said, but he was sure it was so soft, she did not hear.

He had been so angry. Sarah and he, once not just sister and brother, but a not separable duo, and now, they were nothing. They even did not talk to each other.

But it had been her own fault. She was the one who did not want to do anything with him. She had Elliot, who had been _his _best friend.

But wasn´t this the thing Sarah had criticised? That Jake was...jealous?

But she took his best friend away, and he had stood there alone, without a best friend to hand around with and without his favourite sister to talk about this, too.

"He broke up!", Sarah cried. "He left me alone! We are not a pair any longer."

Jakes heart made a jump and he wanted to smile, when he suddenly saw into Sarahs wet eyes and recognized what it had to mean to her.

His smile froze before it could reach his face really and he knew what he had to do. Because every brother, either he was a year younger, what seemed to be a reason to Sarah to let him know it was none of his business, he had to comfort her.

He sat down next to his sister and put his arms around her, noticing how small she was.

And suddenly, Sarah finally was at the end and she cried dramatic into his shirt.

What the hell did this Elliot guy think to hurt _his sister _so much? Anger filled Jake.

"Do you want me to kill him for you?", he asked Sarah, and he could tell, if Sarah would say yes, he would stand up and do it.

But for his confusion, Sarah started to laugh a little bit.

"No...", she told him. "I think it´s enough if you stay with me now..."

Her little laugh made Jake smile and he hugged her a little stronger. He knew he had to talk to her, to fix it all what went wrong the last weeks, but it was so difficult, especially after the words Sarah said.

"Sarah...", Jake had never been a man of big words. He did not knew if his vocabulary was enough for such a difficult talk. "Sarah... I was wrong. I...I was wrong to behave so stupid like I did this evening, we met on the floor. You remember the day? Whe you came home from your date and I told you I would tell mum and dad that you were late..."

"Stop that Jake", Sarah mumbled.

"No...", he had to talk about this now, he had to get rid of it now. "I was wrong this day. I behaved like a total asshole and I am sorry Sarah. You were right. I was jealous."

"Forget it Jake!"

But he could not forget. It was the think which made him feel bad for weeks.

"I was jealous. You two...", he had to think for the right words, because perhaps it would hurt her too much in this moment, if he would talk about Elliot. "You di everything together and I...I felt, like a unwanted person. My friend had better thinks to do as to hang around with me, my sister had bet..."

But Sarah interrupted him: "Please don´t remind me, okay?"

She was right. Perhaps they should talk about this later, when Sarah left it all behind.

"Hmm, okay, so, what you girls do if you are sick of love? Oh yes, you eat ice cream...do you want to eat ice cream Sarah?" Thinking about, Jake had to say that was not very tasty, eating so much ice cream until you felt sick just to forget other sickness.

"That is a brilliant idea, Jake, I think I would like to eat chocolate ice cream, okay?", Sarah smiled at him and suddenly she jumped out of her bed and ran into the kitchen.

"Dad was right", Jake thought when he followed her slowly. "Women are very confusing."

_Please review! _

_For the next shortstory you can choose between Nigel, Kim and Lorraine. _


	3. Requiem for a dream

_Thanks to _Brookie Cookie Renee _for reviewing. You wished a chapter about Jake, and I could not refuse this wish. _

_Thanks to _Donny304, _too. You wished a story about Lorraine, so here it is. _

_It´s a little bit like the first story, but more unrealistic, but I wrote it before I wrote the story about Sarah..._

Requiem for a dream 

"You can not do that to me", she said in disbelieve.

Trying to hold the tears back, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"You can not do that to me", she said again. She opened her eyes and watched him with confusion.

"Why now?", she asked.

They had been so lucky, they had loved each other.

He took a deep breath.

"I am just not sure if I am doing the right thing, Lorraine", he said. "I won´t do a mistake, okay? I need space to think."

"That´s what comes to your mind _now?_" Her voice was unnatural calm. This just could be a bad dream.

With a sad smile he watched her carefully. "I am sorry Lorraine, but I need to think about."

"Why did you not think about it before you asked me to marry you? Why you need place to think if you are ready for getting married one day before your marriage?" With every word, her voice grew up louder and she almost lost the control over herself.

There was a big silence. Lorraine wished it would just be a nightmare, so that she would wake up in a few seconds, lying next to him. He would kiss her forehead and say that it was just a dream, comfort her and promising that everything was all right. That they would still get married tomorrow. That they would be a happy pair and that he was not more looking forward for anything else as seeing her coming up to him in the church in her white dress, her dad next to her, ready to give her in the hands of a loving husband.

"Please", he mumbled, "you have to understand."

What did she has to understand? That he was breaking her heart? That was nothing she had to understand, she felt it.

"Why did you ask me then?", Lorraine wanted to now. "Why did you ask me to marry you? If you won´t marry me..."

"I..." , there he was. Without words. Her beloved fiancé. At least her father liked him.

_He is someone special and wonderful, _Tom had said after meeting him.

And when he asked her to marry him, she thought, that everything would be perfect. Everything _had been_ perfect. But now it was, like this little, perfect world was falling into pieces, like a castle of glass, breaking because someone outraged it.

"It´s not that I am not loving you", he told her.

Finally that was the most stupid sentence she could imagine in this moment.

"But I am not ready for marriage", he explained.

"You´re repeating yourself." She did not want him to see how much it hurt her. Her voice became cold and she closed her eyes again, but just for a short moment, so she was able to open it and watch him without emotions.

"So if that is what you want, you can go now." She was not joking. She wanted him to leave.

"Lorraine. It´s not that I am not loving you..."

"I told you to go now." Delay would just make it harder for her.

She could tell, that he was sad. His face was a real mess, his mouth stood open as if he wanted to say something, but something in her voice made him nod and turn around, keeping the words back.

When he went away, Lorraine watched her feet for a moment.

Than she turned around and went to her car and drove to another place, her parents house.

Holding back her emotions, she got off the car and went to ring the bell.

It took a moment for someone to open it. Her dad stood in the door. First he smiled, but then he frowned and whispered: "What happened, darling?"

But she was not able to speak. She took a step forward and fell into her dad´s arms cried until no more tears were left.

_Please review and tell me what you think._

_You can choose between _Kim, Nigel and Mark _for the next time. _


	4. How to save a life

_Ok, ehm, thanks to _Brookie Cookie Renee_ for reviewing, I..eh... think you wanted to say that you wish a story about Kim and here it is._

_And thanks to _Donny304_ and_ Lauren-95_,too._

_I hope you´ll all like it. _

How to save a life _Kim_

Night covered the city and all she could do was thinking about him.

Kim sat at the window and watched the lifeless street.

"You´re not able to sleep?" Kim turned around and saw her father watching her.

She shook her head and focused the street again. She was not in the mood to speak, but her father made his way up to her and watched the street with her, in silence.

"He has not called." It took her a lot to say this, but there was no choice that she could hold it up any longer. She bit on her lips while she still watched the street, knowing those words would have an other effect on her father as on herself.

Her father would probably being happy about those circumstances and like Kim thought, Tom did not answer.

Thinking about the whole thing, Kim could understand her dad, but she was still not feeling the way he did, she was still hoping the phone would rang and James would tell her that he was okay.

When she had met James the first time, she was absolutely fascinated about him, other was Jessica, her twin, who hated James. But who could be angry with her because of this?

James was not a guy a girl like Kim should love. He was a trouble maker, focusing on being cool and tough more as on not hurting other people or making sure he behaved correct.

"I am just worried", Kim said. She was sure, Tom knew it, but she also new that he waited for her to make the first step.

"I really love James. He may be a rude person to others, and some might think he is not able to love, but he makes me feel good. When we are alone, he behaves an other way, a lovely way." She wanted her father to understand. She wanted him to understand why she was still having contact with James, also he broke his promise and went to this fight tonight.

"You do not have to excuse for your feelings", Tom whispered without watching her. Kim´s heart made a jump. So he was not angry anymore? So he did accept her relationship to James, the two years older bully?

"It´s just...he did not call, Dad! He promised me. And I am really worried now." She pulled her arms around her body and bit on her lips. "He promised me to call, so I wait. If I would just be able do something else, but I am not, what else should I do?" She laughed nervous, without emotion. It was not getting rid of her. "What´s when something happened?" Tears filled up her eyes and she concentrated to not make her dad notice, but he was still her father and so he recognized. He pulled a arm around her and sighed.

"You know where this fight takes place?" This question made her look up in her father´s face and she nodded.

"So come on." He took her hand and leaded her out of the house.

"Where are we going?", Kim asked, unsure what the impression on his face meant.

"We will find out why he did not call. And I will talk to him about an other thing, but don´t worry, I am not coming between you two."

Those were the most confusing words Kim ever heard from her father. Without really knowing what was going on, she followed him into the car and let him took her away.

"Where takes the fight place?", Tom asked again. Kim told him, but her brain was not really able to think.

They reached the dark market place, where the fight between James gang and the other group should have been. But no one was there. Nevertheless Kim got out off the car and watched the scene, soon noticing her father next to her.

Then suddenly, she noticed something dark lying twenty meters in front of her. Gasping, with a fast beating heart, praying it was not what she thought it would be, she run threw the thing, she had figured out.

Shocked she fell down on her knees when she recognized James. He was breathing heavily and holding his left side. Tom was next to them a second later.

"Can you hear me, James?", he asked and turned James around.

It was hard to make out where his face was, because it was so dark, but James answered.

"He stabbed me ", he gasped. That was all he could say before Tom took the sixteen years old and helped him to get in the car.

"We´re going to the hospital", Tom explained.

Kim got next to James, still shocked, laying his head into her arms to comfort him. Her boyfriend took her hand and pushed it strongly, hoping the pain would go away a little bit.

Soon they arrived at the hospital and Kim´s dad got out off the car, opened the backseat door and took James on his arms.

Kim wonder that her father could carry the sixteen years old, but she rushed behind them and entered the warm hospital.

"This boy was attacked with a knife", Tom told the first doctor he saw. The man watched James for a moment, then he waved and a few persons came to them and laid James onto a bar and rushed him into a floor, Kim was not allowed to enter.

"It´s not looking so worse, we will soon have saved him", the doctor promised and left.

Kim stood there a moment until the emotions took over and she hugged her father as strong as she could.

_For the next time you can choose between _Nigel _and _Henry _and I try to work a little bit on my story about _Mark _, and I hope you will give me reviews how you think about the stories. _


	5. Sorry seems to be the hardest word

_**Many thanks to **Lauren-95** for reviewing. **_

_**Here is a story about Nigel, it is not much, but I hope you´ll like it.**_

Sorry seems to be the hardest word  _Nigel _

"Don´t you think it would be easier for both of us, if you would tell me that your are sorry?"

Nigel watched his twin brother Kyle with disbelieve.

"Why should I tell you that I am sorry?", he asked. "I haven´t done anything wrong."

He could see Kyle rolling his eyes.

"Don´t role your eyes like that", Nigel said. "I was right. I see no reason for excuse."

So it was. He had not done anything wrong. It was all his stupid twin brothers fault.

Nigel made a triumph face and watched Kyle seriously.

"Your are so damn stupid", Kyle whispered with anger and went away, leaving Nigel alone.

After a while, Nigel sighed. This argument with his brother had taken three weeks now and it did not look like the situation would change so far. Once, before this damn argument they had been inseperable, a dream team. But now everything changed.

He made a fist and threw it against the wall.

"Why don´t you say sorry?"

Nigel looked up and saw Sarah, his elder sister standing a few meters away, watching him seriously.

"Because I did not do anything wrong", Nigel explained. Deep inside, he knew he did something wrong, not everything, but something, but if he would say sorry first, he would be the weak one, and he was not able to do it, too. It was too complicated, to hard.

Sarah raised her eyebrows and came up to him and leaned against the wall.

"You know what Mum would tell us? Mum would say: I don´t care who started this fight, you both have to excuse, and one has to do the first step. Now!"

Yeah, that was definitely what their mother would say.

"Why should I?", Nigel asked his sister. "I am fine."

Sarah laughed. "No you´re not. You miss him."

Nigel frowned and bit on his lips, then he could do a masked face again.

"I don´t."

Sarah shook her head, Nigel knew it was in disbelieve and sighed.

"Sometimes, I hate boys. They are so complicated, with their want to be the strongest and their macho behaviour."

"Don´t you think it would be the best to leave us alone with our problems. We can solve them in our way", Nigel told her being a little bit aggressive.

"Oh, yes, I see, you can solve it on your own very well!"

"Was that sarcasm?"

His big sister rolled her eyes and pushed herself away from the wall and gave him one last look. Then she went away, but when she reached the stairs, she turned around once again and asked:

"Oh, I am sorry, I forgot...so could you tell me again what your your argument about?"

Nigel opened his mouth but he could not speak. He did not know the answer. He had forgotten what had been the theme of the argument.

Sarah jumped down every stair down and left a confused Nigel.

"So better go and try to fix everything", Nigel whispered to himself.

He went up to Kyles room, they did not share one since Lorraine lived in New York, and knocked.

"What?" Kyle seemed upset. Nigel took a deep breath and entered the room.

It was dark, the window was covered with curtains and Kyle sat on his bed and watched the roof.

"What do you want?", he asked.

Nigel did not really know what to say.

"I am sorry Kyle."

**Please review!**

_**So about whom should the next chapter be? There are already chapters about Lorraine, Sarah, Jake, Kim and Nigel now, what leaves Tom, Kate, Nora, Charlie, Henry, Mark, Jessica, Mike and Kyle. In my head there sometimes are more ideas for one, what means I want to write at least two stories about everyone but I think first I want to write one chapter about everyone. **_


	6. Welcome to my life

_**Thanks to **Donny304 **and **Lauren-95 **for reviewing. **_

**_Here is a chapter about Mike. Tell me what you think, because I am not sure. It´s not much._**

Welcome to my life _Mike_

He was down.

It was no question of his attitude. It was a fact. He was totally broken. Down.

The moment the last piece of hope fell down and broke in thousand little pieces like a ball made out of glass, which had fell on a cold stone floor.

And the top of things was: He had no one around he could tell.

Mike laid on his bed, watching the ceiling, and wished he was somewhere else. Anywhere, anyhow any...the fact was, he wished he wasn´t anywhere. It did not feel like there was a place he felt better.

His girlfriend was upset. No, perhaps _upset _was the wrong word.

She was freaking angry and...yeah she hated him now. That was what she had told him.

But this was not the problem.

His parents were angry with him, because he got an E in his class test. They were disappointed.

No, _disappointed, _seemed to be the wrong word. They were totally angry, because he got an E again. Normally grates weren´t a theme in the Baker house, but this, it had been Dad words, was not acceptable and when Mike had given a helpless look at Jake, his older brother, Jake shut shrugged, like he wanted to say: _It´s your own fault, dude._

Mike put on the radio, but that was all. Jake would have jumped on his bed, played air-guitar. But Mike, he was Mike, when did everyone understood?

He had not the best grades, he was not the one with a big brain. And he was not the one with big feelings, like his girlfriend wanted him.

Perhaps, if he would be someone else, not the tenth child of twelve, not a Baker, not Mike, who was hanging down the roof, perhaps it would be easier for him then.

Sarah waited for him, she wanted to play hockey. But Mike wasn´t in the mood.

Nevertheless he would have to play, because it was his role, his life. He loved hockey, but was this the reason why he had to play it every night and day, when one of his siblings wanted someone to play hockey with?

Mike stood up and went outside.

The sun was shining as if she blinked at him and said: "It´s a happy day."

But it wasn´t. It wasn´t a happy, and it wasn´t a lucky day.

It was just a day. Like everyday, perhaps a little worse then normal.

Perhaps it was a fucking Truman Show. Mike watched the sky like he waited for something to fall down and explain why he was stuck in this place.

Someone called his name.

He turned around and saw Nigel and Kyle coming up to him.

"Wanna play hockey, Mike?", Nigel asked.

He shook his head. No, not today. Today was another day, just today, because tomorrow it would be the same procedure as every day.

"Why not?"

"I just don´t want to, okay?"

They did not say anything else and went away. Perhaps they would ask someone else to play with them.

Mike watched the sky again and sighed. Did he have a bad day? Perhaps...but perhaps he was just tired of all this. His image.

He saw something blink at the horizon. Yeah, his own Truman Show. He had to grin, wasn´t as bad as he thought, was it?

**_Please review. And about whom shall be the next chapter?_**


	7. Don t look back in anger

_**At first: Many thanks to **kaitlyn**,** Donny304 **and **Lauren-95** for your reviews. I am happy you liked it and reviewed.**_

_**Second: You all wished a chapter about someone, but it were all different wishes, so I am sad to say I can not write all those chapters at once, but I wrote one about Charlie, because **kaitlyn **wished fir it, and I promise the next two chapters will be about Nora and Jessica, because that were those the others´ wished. **_

Don´t look back in anger_ Charlie_

"What do you mean?"

An eyerolling Taylor stood next to him. "What I mean? Forget her, leave her behind. What´s complicated about?"

Charlie shook his head. "I can´t."

"Of cause you can."

He watched the photo with Beth on it. Nothing made a sense anymore.

"But I love her", Charlie explained. He could not imagine not being her boyfriend anymore. But he could not imagine being with her, either.

"It´s Beth."

"I know it´s Beth." He heard Taylors voice. He did not know if there was anger in it.

"Come on, it´s over and you know it Charlie. Just stop it and don´t look back in anger, because you are angry about the way it went."

"No. Nothing is over." He was angry. How could Taylor say something like that? That it was over. Taylor did not know anything.

"You don´t know anything", Charlie said.

Beth had been his one and only love. He had knew it would be complicated when he and his family moved, but it wasn´t like it would be impossible, was it?

"I know that it´s killing you. To have her as a girlfriend who is miles away", Taylor said triumphing.

"And I know that you know that, too. It just don´t go in your head."

"Maybe your´re right", Charlie whispered. "And you know what? All the time we were a pair but I could not see her, that made me angry."

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, I know Charlie."

Okay, that was getting on his nerves. Taylor who said 'I know'. How long did he know Taylor and how long did he know Beth? Big difference.

"But you´re wrong", Charlie said. He had his back to Taylor now but he knew what Taylor did now.

"Don´t roll your eyes like that, Taylor."

"Sorry." It did not sound like a real 'sorry'.

There was a big pause, where no one said a word. Charlie thought, and he did not really think at the same time. It was about to break up with Beth. Because it did not went. The distance, the different lives, everything.

"I still love her, perhaps", Charlie sighed. "That´s making me angry." Oh yes, that was making him furious. Not knowing what he felt. And seeing the past before his eyes, the good moments with Beth. "That´s making me so damn angry."

"I don´t understand you Charlie, I really don´t understand you."

Charlie had to laugh. He did not understand himself. Wasn´t that funny? He did not understand why he was in this situation, why he let Taylor come so close to his brain. It was his life and it was his decision and it was his Beth they were talking about and Taylor had nothing to do with it.

"You don´t have to", Charlie whispered.

"Huh?"

"You don´t have to understand Taylor. You don´t have to care." There was anger in his voice. Why did he talk like this? Taylor was his best friend, wasn´t she?

"We´re friend, of cause I care!" Now she was angry, too. Good job Charlie, but Taylor started,

didn´t she?

"You do not even know Beth!"

"But I know you and I care for you, isn´t that enough?"

Something in her tone was strange. Charlie turned around and watched Taylors face. She had blue eyes. He did not knew that, how could he not knew?

"Perhaps you do not really care about me. Or perhaps you do not care at all." The hurt look in the girls face made Charlie wishing he could punch himself into his face.

But it was clear now, what Taylor wanted. She wanted him to break up with Beth so it was her turn.

"It was a great time with you, Taylor", Charlie said with a voice full of sarcasm. "But I will never look back, because I don´t want to look back in anger."

**Please review.**


	8. One of these days

_**Thanks to **Lauren-95, Kaitlyn **and **Donny304 **for reviewing.**_

_**Kaitlyn: To be honest I was never thinking for Annie...**_

_**Here´s the next chapter, Nora this time, because Donny304 wished one about her and how she´s dealing with being a first time parent. **_

_**Next time I try to write something about Jessica, for Lauren-95.**_

_**One last note: English´s not my native language and if you find any mistakes, tell me, I will correct them **_

One of these days_ Nora_

So little Tom slept. Finally.

With a quiet moan Nora sank down in the big armchair and watched the ceiling.

She frowned for a moment, but then she realized, that she had really nothing to do.

The sun wasn´t shining. Rain fell from the sky and tipped against the window. Tock, tock, tock.

Nora´s gaze went down the wall, through the room and ended up at her feet. She was wearing red socks. Red ones! A year before she would have never done such a thing. Red socks.

Her little sister Lorraine came to her mind and what she would say about red socks with green trousers.

But Lorraine wasn´t here. No one was. No sound, except for the rain falling against the window.

Nora wondered what her friends were doing. Before she was married, before she became a mother, she met her friends very often, at least once a week. But now... It was like she, Nora, was in a foreign country, far away from the others who had their old live, while she was here, a mother.

She was twenty-four now, almost twenty-five, little Tom was four months old.

Outside the rain tipped against the window, fell down on earth with amazing speed, becoming faster and faster. Tock, tock, tock, tock.

Nora stood up and walked over to the child´s room, where Tom laid in his bed. She looked down on him and smiled. She could not force a yawing to stay in her body, it had been a hard week. Tom had not slept much and she was alone while Bud was on a trip for work.

Her mother´d never told her how much strength it cost to raise a child.

She could be happy that she had look a lot after her younger siblings, how many they were, so this was not new for her, but, it was different. Tom was her child. Not her brother. She could feel it in her heart when she watched him, even if she thought for him.

Changing diaper and feed a hungry mouth was not everything.

Again, Nora´s thoughts went to her old friends, the good ones, and she really wondered if it wouldn´t be great to write a letter. To all of them.

It was just a rainy day, but, this day had something around it, a strange feeling.

She could tell she was a little bit tired, but too tired for friends?

With a last look at her son, Nora went back to the bedroom and sat down at the desk, put out a paper and a pen and starred out off the window into the rain.

She started with a informal dear...closing her eyes for a moment to think for something she could write. She had thought for writing letters to get away from family life one time and remember friends, but the only thing coming to her mind was her son.

He had her father´s name, her mothers eyes and definitely her husbands taste. Nora was unable to believe how tall he already was, and how difficult it was to be there.

So she started to write. The words flew over the paper, even if she did not really knew they were in her. She did not want to let it seem like raising a child would ask too much of her, but if she was honest, it asked a lot.

Tom started being interested into things and he could scuttle very well now. Everything that was not good for a baby had to be pushed out off the was, and one time she forget, it could go wrong.

Yes, she had not thought it to be so hard, being there twenty-four hours a day, but, she had not thought it to be so wonderful, neither.

And next to the things she had to do now, there were the things she wasn´t able to do now.

Going out when she was in the mood for it, for example.

That was the reason she had not seen any friends for a long time, she had to be there for Tom.

She had not thought the letter to become so long, but now, it was a lot. She just explained what all happened.

The rain became less and the sun began to shine again.

Did she give up her life for family? In old days, she had been on parties, business or something like that, she thought when Tom suddenly started to cry.

But when she saw him lying in his bed, starring up to her with this bright eyes, she had to smile. She had a good feeling today, and her thinking would not stop that.

**Please review.**


	9. Somewhere only we know

_**Thanks to **Donny 304** for reviewing. It was no problem to do a chapter about Nora.**_

_**Thanks to **Lauren-95 **, too, I am happy that you liked it. **_

_**Here´s a chapter about Jessica, then. **_

**_Oh, and I do not own Cheaper by the dozen._**

Somewhere only we know _Jessica_

They were on this road. Jessica watched Ben driving.

They had left with dawn, without saying good bye to anyone.

"Where are we going?" She did not know how often she had asked it now. Seemed like a hundred times.

"We are leaving."

The road was empty, that meant they were the only living on it for miles.

When Ben had appeared under her window this night and leaded her to the car and drove without saying where, Jessica had been scared at first. She had thought there would have been something in his eyes, that she had to be scared about, but it wasn´t. He just wanted to go, he had told her and after they had been driving a while, Jessica relaxed and watched the areas pass away next to her window.

Ben always had been special. And their relationship had been, too. Jessica could not tell if they were just friends or if there was more, but it was not important to her. It was not necessary to know, because everything that counted was that he was there.

When the sun had risen Jessica had watched the small beam of orange sunlight falling through the window, she had opened the window on the passenger side and had stretched her arm out of it, letting the light playing with her hand.

It wasn´t windy outside. And Ben was quiet. Music played on the radio, songs she loved. Normally she would have sung it, every line, but not today.

"What does that mean: We are leaving?"

"That we go somewhere, where...I don´t know." Ben´s answers weren´t so satisfying.

"Do I know the place?", she asked.

First, there was no responds.

"I think so. Remember this day in your room? We were thinking for a place we could go..."

"_Where would you like to go, one day?"_

_Jessica frowned. "What do you mean Ben?"_

_He shrugged. "There has to be some place you would like to go one day, hasn´t it? Like California or something like that."_

"_I think this place has to be found first", Jessica answered. _

"_What do you mean?"_

"If you mean this...then you´re wrong. I don´t know such a place." Jessica watched Ben who was starring on the street.

"We know it..."

"Talking about a place that we want to find, is not knowing it..."

"Where´s your sense for mystery?"

"It has never been there Ben, I like everything with clear answers. You should know that, we hung

around long enough."

"But, look, we could find it know, don´t we?"

Jessica sat up. "God Ben, are you crazy or something? My parents will open my room in a few minutes and I will be gone! We are driving through. America just because of an idea we had once?

That´s stupid. Turn around and drive back. Now!"

The car stopped immediately. Thankfully there was no other car on the road.

"I...you said you want to find!"

"_I don´t know... perhaps I mean...we could need a place just we know. Nothing big. A small place, anywhere. But no one else should know it, like a secret."_

"_You want to find such a place?", Ben asked. _

"_That would be great, I think."_

"God Ben, I did not mean we should drive through the whole country to find it! That´s crazy. You are crazy! And I am crazy, too, because I went with you."

Ben did not answer. He started the car again and turned around, to drive back.

"Don´t be so childish now, Ben. It´s just that it is necessary that we go back now. "

Silence.

"You´re hurt now?"

No responds.

**Please review.**

**Who´s left? Henry, Mark, Kyle, Tom and Kate, I think. **


	10. Mistakes

_**Thanks to **Lauren-95 **for your review, here is a chapter about Henry. **_

_**Thanks for reviewing to **Donny304, **too. **_

Mistakes _Henry_

Henry breathed heavily when he got home. He was sweating and his condition was gone.

"You´re already home?" His father stood in the kitchen door, a spoon in his hand, ready to cook.

"Yes."

"I thought you wanted to learn for this test with Jim", his father asked.

When this name came to his ears, Henry stopped listing. His father said something else, but Henry just went upstairs into his room. When he reached, he felt down on his bed and watched the ceiling

in silence.

Something just happened. Henry just did not understand.

There was a knock at the door. With moan, Henry stood up, he did not want to look weak.

"Come in", he told the unknown person, hoping it would not be his father.

It wasn´t. It was much worse, because his mother, Kate, stood in the door and her gaze said it all. Her eyes were filled with sympathy and Henry already knew what she wanted to say, before the words came through her lips.

"What´s wrong, darling?"

Henry tried to take a deep breath without let it become a sigh. "Nothing mum", he said.

"Come on, Henry, I am your mother, tell me."

But he couldn´t. It was not the right moment to talk about. It wasn´t the moment to think about. He just wanted to forget.

"I just don´t wanna talk about, okay?", he tried to explain. Just go away, was what he thought.

Of cause, this words were the wrong ones and his mother closed the door behind her and came up to him.

"Henry, you should talk about your feelings."

If this was the right way, why was he so damaged now? He actually wondered how it could have happened.

"You feel better than", his mother explained.

It that was true, why he felt so bad now, after doing it, after talking about his feelings?

"It is too complicated", Henry said. It was. It was the most complicated thing he had ever been in, he did not really understood it himself.

"Nothing can be too complicated to tell your mother", Kate smiled.

How wrong she was. It was perfectly complicated, but...and suddenly Henry recognized what he did not want to see. His mistakes. He had done mistakes. And that was all that had made it so complicated. The whole way home, the whole school day, he had wondered how it could happen and now it was totally clear. He had been wrong, he had done many mistakes.

And if he just would tell Jim, it would be okay, Henry was sure about this.

"So?", his mothers voice broke the silence.

This one little sentence had damaged everything. He, Henry, had been wrong and he did not want to admit, but this was what he had to do now.

"I had an argument with Jim", Henry explained. Why the hell did he tell her, she even did not know who Jim was. Henry bit on his lips and watched her.

"Is Jim your friend?", she asked. He nodded. But she did not know, she did not know what Jim meant to him, and the problem was that Jim did not know this, too.

"I was stupid", Henry told her. "I was stupid and I did not want to see."

Kate smiled sadly. "Those things happen. We are not perfect, but sometimes you can make amends, you know?" Henry frowned a little, but he nodded. Playing with the end of his pillow, he waited for her to say anything else, but there was nothing.

"Your father cooked his well known pasta, lets go downstairs and try a bit", his mother suddenly changed the topic.

Henry was not really hungry, but he stood up just because of the smile of his mother and went downstairs to have dinner, to let this day come to an end.

**Please review. I think there are still Kyle, Kate, Tom and Mark left for now, aren´t they?**

**(I think I will write two chapters about everyone, but first, everyone should have one)**


	11. Mad World

_**Three things to say: **_

_**First of all: Many thanks to Donny 304 and Lauren-95 for reviewing. **_

_**Second: Sorry it took so long to update another chapter, but I had a kind of writer´s block.**_

_**Third: I hope you don´t mind that this short story is a really SHORT story.**_

Mad World _Kyle_

"You think that´s funny?"

Kyle Baker looked up to his teacher who was about to send him to detention because of a stupid discussion Kyle started in class.

Actually, Kyle really thought it was funny. It had been a trifle that forced the core on his teachers forehead to pulsate now, watching him with small eyes and sent him to detention, just with pointing onto the door with his finger.

Yeah, it had to be funny, but on the other hand, Kyle new what would happen at home when his parents got the call from school that her youngest was sent to detention again, third time this month, well knowing that it was only the eleventh.

While he walked down the hallway to the detention room, Kyle giggled a little bit, but suddenly he stopped and watched his feet. His parents would be mad again, but the worst thing would be the disappointed look in their eyes that their youngest got in so much trouble in school.

Their was nothing to do, he was the bad twin.

When he opened the door and gave Mrs. Peters the paper on which stood that he was sent here by his teacher Kyle managed to lift his head like he would be proud of it, but when he sat down, he closed his eyes and tried to figure what happened to him.

His parents, although they seemed to be proud of their children whatever they did, were not proud of Kyle who turned out as someone without nothing but trouble in his head.

He still waited for a time he would feel good or a time he was not full of sorrow all the time. Still no one cared, but Kyle was not about to cry about this. He would laugh into the face of this world.

In detention he had nothing else to do as waiting for his father to pick him up.

The time passed, the clock ticked, as if it wanted to say: Soon it´s your time of dying, Kyle.

Then his father arrived. He did not say a word, so they drove in silence and it hurt Kyle more as if his father would have screamed at him how mad he was. But his parents did not scream. They were always absolutely calm and it was getting on Kyles nerves.

While he watched the streets passed by behind the passengers window, he thought for something he could say. He tried to find the right words for his feeling to be left alone, but in the end, he decided it would not made sense.

When the car stopped, Kyle walked into his room as always, lied down on his bed and starred at the ceiling for the rest of the day, like all surroundings just stopped, until dinner was ready and the time went on.

_**Please review.**_

_**For the next time, you can choose between Mark, Tom and Kate. I want to finish this three left stories first, but I think after I did this I will go on with writing another story about everyone.**_


	12. In dreams

**_Hello everyone! _**

_**Thanks to **Donny304 **for reviewing. Thanks to **Lauren-95 **for reviewing, here is a chapter about Mark, but I do not know if it is okay.**_

_**Thanks to **twilightischeaperbythedozen **for reviewing, too. The chapter about Kate is coming next time.**_

**_Enjoy!_**

In dreams _Mark _

A starless night covered the city.

Mark went threw the cold winter air and ended up at the end of Lorraine Boulevard, where he lived.

The warm tears went down his face, he tried to stop, just for a moment, but it was impossible and he became angry about his weak self and kicked the air. It was raining.

Go ahead, he thought. He went to the door as if nothing would have happened. You just have to reach your room.

But instead he sat down on the cold stones of the street and imagined how it could have been.

A image formed in his head and he shook it for make the image go away. He took a deep breath.

Feeling stronger, Mark sat up and continued going home, hoping his parents would be asleep, so the trouble would wait until tomorrow, because he was much too late.

He had really thought, that Brittany was his best friend. That he, Mark – FedEx – was suddenly one of the cool kids. And more, Brittany had kissed him.

But no it was all over, she was gone, travelling around with her friends, those guys that made Marks life to a hell and he was a freak again, who sat alone in the classes and had no friends. He was FedEx again.

Putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the first jeans he ever bought, because of Brittany, he went forward and wondered if he would see her ever again.

He had still the image in front of his eyes, how Brittany sat down behind Bruce, on his motorbike, waving and then they drove away, leaving Mark behind, just with guys around him, that hated him.

Charlie had told him he should tell Brittany his love, but he had been such a wimp, he had feared her reaction and he left her going without telling her what he felt.

And it happened what had to happen, she felt in love with the coolest guy of the city, like in a bad movie and left him alone in the dark. That was not fair.

He lay his head into his neck and watched the starless, dark sky. Anywhere a dog barked, but there was no other noise, as the sound of the cold water, coming from the sky.

He felt the hard rain onto his skin, the drops falling on his face and running down his cheeks where they were he could not any longer differ them from his tears.

He did not want to go home but he froze and so he had no other chance. Moaning, he went home and entered the dark house. Mark was not willed to put the light on, he went to his room in darkness, not without falling over Jakes skateboard, which was left at the end of the stairs. He stood still for a moment, but no one seemed to be awake because of the noise.

After two minutes he reached his room, put his wet clothes off and crawled into his bed, where he could hide his head under countless pillows.

It took not long and Mark was asleep and dreaming and in dreams, he met her again, Brittany, and he made sure she knew he loved her.

The next morning the clouds veiled the sun and Mark had to sigh. He had to face the bitter reality now.

**Please review.**


	13. Closest thing to crazy

_**After a while, that seemed like a eternity to me, I was able to write the next story. **_

_**I hope you enjoy.**_

_**Thanks to **Lauren -95** , I hope you like the next chapter, too.**_

_**Thanks to **Donny304,** finally there is the next chapter.**_

_**And thanks to **twilightischeaperbythedozen, **too. Yeah, perhaps Tom is the final one. But I am not sure, perhaps I try to write another round of Stories.**_

Closest thing to crazy  _Kate_

"I feel like a little girl", she laughed.

Tom watched her amused. "You look beautiful", he said.

Kate turned around to watch herself in the mirror. Tonight she wore this definitely too much coloured skirt and she felt great.

"Maybe we go out for dinner tonight, what do you think?", Tom asked.

Kate smiled sadly. "What´s with the kids?"

"They´re old enough, aren´t they? The older ones can watch the younger ones. I thought for dancing."

Kate frowned. "I am not twenty anymore."

"Thought you feel like a lil´ girl."

"Tom..."

"Just having fun, Kate." He walked over to her and kissed her neck. "A romantic evening. I don´t know why we should not have one."

"´Cause it is crazy, Tom." She turned around and watched him seriously.

"It is just a dinner, nothing special, but if you want we can make it crazy."

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps ice skating or...things you do when you are young." He started to make his tie.

"And what will we tell the children?"

"The truth?"

"That we go ice skating? Then they want to come, too, Tom. You know them."

With those words she turned around again and watched herself in the mirror again. Yeah, this shirt was definitely too crazy coloured, she should change. "I have to change. I can not wear this."

She could see her husbands eyes roll in the mirror. "Of cause you can. Come on, there is a funfair* at the mall. And when it is late in the evening, the young kids are not allowed to be on the streets. That´s the moment we enter the scene." He made a movement with his arm and took a step forward.

With a licentiousness arm movement he introduced her in the scene which played in front of his inner eye.

She could see the coloured lights and shops now, too, when she closed her eyes, and for a moment she _knew _that she was going crazy.

"Come on Kate. Where is the problem? Aren´t we supposed to have fun, just because we are adults, just because ewe are parents? It´s easy, we just go for a walk and...suddenly", Tom stopped for a moment in which he made a great movement with his arms, "there appears a funfair onto the scene. And we, in a moment of light-headedness and spontaneity, go to be a part of this scene. Of cause, nothing of this is planned, we were just bombarded by all this lights and foods and we did not really know what happened to us." He made a surprised face that made Kate love.

"You convinced me", she said.


	14. Everybody hurts

_**Many thanks to **Donny304**, **sillsnowswirls, Lauren-95, StandUpEvenIfYouStandAlone **and **Jazz248 **for your reviews, they made me happy. **_

_**Finally there is the chapter about Tom (yeah, I know, it took long enough). **_

_**When I started this little stories I wanted it to end at this point but some people asked me to write another chapter, so I try as soon as an idea comes to my mind and I´ve got the time. Probably I will try to write a chapter about Sarah, because I was asked for that. **_

_**So enjoy the chapter, I decided that it´s for my father(who will never read it), because he got a ticket tonight because he parked wrong because the "no parking" sign faced the wall and not the street and you could not see it in the dark and I think it´s just good that it´s a chapter about Tom then.**_

Everybody hurts

The door slammed shut and a pair of feet ran upstairs until the next door could be heard.

Tom Baker sighed, his eyes still focused on the plan for the training next morning. With being the father of twelve children he had learnt that sometimes, most of the times, it was the best to ignore the teenage problems, because if you not the best ending would be that a pillow lands in your face and a angry kid in his teens would scream at you like hell to let go and leave it alone with its problems.

So he tried to focus on work again and to ignore the sobs coming out of the room next to his.

After something that seemed like five minutes he let go. It was impossible to concentrate while hearing one of his own kids crying in its room.

But instead a picture of the person lying on the bed and crying its heart out came to his mind.

He let out another sigh before sitting up and stepping onto the floor.

As far as he could figure it out the crying came out of Jake´s room. God, he had not heard Jake cry since something that seemed like five years. Jake almost was a man now and he really behaved like one, including the "nothing hits me"-thing.

He hit the door with a soft knock before he opened the door and stunned by what he saw.

There on his bed laid Jake crying. Jake had never been tall and now, collapsed on his bed, he looked like a little, hurt dog.

When he noticed someone was in the room, he suddenly stopped and held his breath, watching his father like he would be a ghost.

Tom forced himself to smile and he had no idea why it took so long to bring out a simple "hey".

Then after a few more seconds of shock he walk towards his son and started to speak again.

"What´s wrong?"

"Nothing Dad." As if he would not see a lie when it was dancing in front of him _naked._

"You cried!" He did not want to say that as loud as he did and he recognized Jake flinch.

"It´s okay, Dad. Really. I am fine."

Jake´s voice made Toms heart wrench.

He tried to speak as calm as he could with a small smile on his lips.

"You can tell me, Jake. I´m your Dad."

The clock on the wall ticked and it was a sticky atmosphere. He really wondered when he had stopped being so close with his kids but then again he knew it was always the same, they were teens, young adults and he had been through the same five times before Jake. He could do this.

"It´s okay. I will calm down now, okay?"

"I think we should talk about because...just because it´s better if we do." He was too funny for that. The work of serious talks was always done by Kate, but she was not here at the moment. A simple talk with no sense, that was his business. Not trying to figure out what was wrong with his eighteen years old son who was crying.

If he was honest, Jake and he had drifted apart the last years more then he wanted to realise. Jake was not in football or other sports. Jake like a bit baseball once for a while when he was in the mood, but most time he was skating or listening to music. Nothing Tom could share. It was not bad, Tom always loved the diversity of his children, how special every kid was, but now he realized, that he did not know one real thing about Jake. He did not know his friends, or his favorite movie, or what he would like to do on his birthday. For being his son, he was a stranger.

Tom bit his lip and wondered if it was only Jake he did not know, or if it were his other children, too, and he could not give an exact answer.

With a few steps Tom had reached the bed and sat down next to his boy.

"I think we should talk."

Jake shrugged.

"Something happened in school?"

"Had an argument with Cameron."

"You´ve got a girlfriend?"

Jakes head snapped up and then he shook it. "No, he´s my best friend Dad, but you don´t know him, so stop asking."

"Hmm. And what was the argument about?"

Jake whipped with his foot. "I can not remember how it started, but ...it was pretty bad."

"And?"

"He...Dad he said he would no longer be my friend. That we were done."

"He said you two were done, but you do not know why?"

"Don´t want to talk about the reason, okay?"

"Okay, so", Tom hesitated a moment, "you think that you two are done?"

"He said so."

Okay, so he was not the best talker when it came to feelings, but it seemed that Jake was really his son in that point. There was a huge silence in which neither said a word until Jake spoke on his own.

"He said...other things. I wouldn´t have thought they could hurt so much. He said things about me, Dad, I did not know friends talk to you like that."

"I...you know Jake, bad words are said and everybody´s hurt sometimes and everybody hurts sometime, but I am sure if you two are best friends, you can go through this and everything will be okay."

"Perhaps." Jake hesitated a while. "I am a wimp, aren´t I?" _(A.N.:Is the language correct here?)_

Tom had to smile. "No. You´re not. It´s okay."

"But I cried."

"Everyone cries once in a while when he´s hurt. Such things happens. And after it, you feel better and perhaps you got strong enough to call this...what was his name?"

"Cameron."

"To call Cameron. God, we really need to speak more often, Jake." He did not even know the name of his son´s best friend.

"Why?"

"Does feel right, Jake. It feels right."


	15. The importance of being idle

_**Thanks to **Donny304 **and **Lauren-95 **for reviewing. **_

_**Thanks to **sillysnowswirls **, too for all your reviews, here is the chapter about Sarah you wished for.**_

_Disclaimer:**I do not own Cheaper by the Dozen and I am using its characters just for fun.**_

The importance of being idle_ Sarah_

"Sarah, could you please bring the gar..." Before I could hear how the sentence of my mother, Kate, ended, I put my headphones on and listened to my favourite song.

I laid my feet on my bed, either they were still dressed in my boots and sighed. It was a moment of greatness that no one would destroy. Not, that something big had happened, or something, I just was in a good mood.

Suddenly a knock at the door made me jump. Whoever destroyed my quiet atmosphere, I would...no, if I was honest, I was too lazy to get rid oh him or her.

It was Jake who entered my room, not wearing a t-shirt, what was really weird.

"Have you washed the shirt you have borrowed la...", he broke into silence in the middle of the sentence and watched me.

"You still wear my t-shirt, dude", he told me. "That´s so not cool."

I gave him a amused look and wondered when he would stop thinking that I would ever do something that was told me.

"I need it and you ran through the world in my shirt about a week?", he asked.

"Yes", I answered, as if this was no rhetorical question. "Anything else?" It was no fun to have a pissed brother in your room.

"What do you think, will you be able to wash it one day?" Seriously, Jake needed to change his tone.

"One day, of cause", I smiled back and put the headphones back on my ears, the music blasting loud. I could not hear what he called me before he left the room and it did not matter. It was not the time to do something, now.

My grandpa called this "strong needed lazy-time", my mum called it normality and Kim called, it "Sarah-your-going-on-my-nerves". I called it the not-time, because it was the time that was not called, it was not the time to do homework, or to do anything else. It was just time to hang around.

The clocked ticked and it was just amazing to watch the time pass without doing something.

A minute later, Mike came into my room without knocking.  
"I´ve got a new place to do free-climbing."

I rolled my eyes. "I am not in the mood, Mike."

His head fell down on his chest in grieve but I was not going to climb with him.

I could hear the door fall shut, but before I put on my headphones again my mum entered the room.

"Sarah, I told you to bring out the garbage."

"Later Mum."

"No. Later means never to you, you´re doing it _now._"

Mothers never understood when you need some time on your own.

"Yeah, mum, later. I am doing it later. I promise."

She sighed. "Then I ask Jessica, because the garbage is not moving itself."

With a smile of triumph I leant back on my bed. It was good to do nothing, to just hang around and be lazy. It was important sometimes.

**Ah, I know how Sarah´s feeling.**

_**Please review. **_


	16. Nothing else matters

_**1st : Many thanks to **Donny304 **and **sillysnowswirls **for reviewing. **_

_**2nd: Sorry, it took so long. **_

_**3rd: Here´s a chapter about Nora. If someone has any wishes or ideas for the next chapter, please tell me. **_

_**4th: When I am not able to update next week, I think it will sadly take about two other weeks before I can update. **_

Nothing else matters _Nora_

"I found you." Her own voice echoed in her head while she watched her little son Tom crawl out of the dresser.

"You´ve got to hide, Mummy", he told her. She nodded with a smile, already knowing where she would hide herself. "Close your eyes, darling", she told the little boy. Then she went slowly to wardrobe in the floor, hiding herself behind Bud´s large coat.

She closed her eyes while waiting her son to find her, excepting the time to end, but hoping it would not happen.

The house was silent and even without the wind whispering through the trees she knew that it was autumn because you could smell all the leaves and the rain through the windows just right till this wardrobe. The dishwasher was on, its mumbling sound coming from the kitchen, the peaceful rest of the jackets that were hanging next to her making her feel comfortable.

A sleepless night had ended with the sobs of Tom, who had awoken from a terrifying nightmare and Nora had not been able to calm him down for more then an hour and when he finally had been asleep again, Bud was already up, taking a shower because it was time for work and Nora started to make breakfast.

When morning had finally broke, Bud had been at work twenty minutes and Tom was angry because his beloved cornflakes were out and he had to eat a toast with marmalade.

When she had been in shower, leaving Tom playing with his cars, she missed two phone calls and someone who rang at the door.

Happy about being able to pick up the phone in time the third time it rang, Nora had to talk to a really angry Sophie, who was upset because Nora had forgotten their meeting yesterday.

Then, after her mind decided to take a break until it was going to explode, Bud´s mother had phoned her, started to talk about everything but anything important and finished her call with a more then glass clear comment about Nora´s family, who, in Bud´s mothers eyes, was a catastrophe.

All in all, she was about to go back to bed and hide herself under the covers before twelve a.m..

And now, she had decided to take an off time, taking the cable of phone off before starting to play hide and seek with her son.

"I´ve got you, Mummy!"

Tom had found her and called her back to reality. She had gotten a little shock when the boy had opened the door with a loud _crash _and she had let out a cry.

Tom started to laugh. "I scared you!"

His happy laughter made her smile.

"So you scared me, huh?", she said with a played angry voice. "Yeah, you scared me, that means punishment."

She leant forward, grabbed her son and tickled him.

It did not matter what had happened before, she decided, while she watched his amused face.

_**Please review. **_


	17. Wake me up, when September ends

_**Okay guys, sorry it took so long but therefor, the story is a little bit longer then usual. **_

_**I hope you enjoy and many thanks to **__Lauren-95, sillysnowswirls __**and**__ Donny304 __**for reviewing.**_

_**This is a really sad story I think, but I was in the mood. **_

_**Once again: English is not my native language. About every language mistake I am really **__**sorry.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own **__Cheaper by the dozen._

Wake me up when September ends

The ripped leave fell down on the floor.

He watched it with calmness he did not know it existed in him. Maybe he was just tired, drowing in the cold September air, the wind which sent rain from the East and the clouds that covered up the sun every morning.

Waking up always was like a ritual of moaning, when his eyes weren´t even open and he recognized the rain tippng on the window next to his head over and over again and he just wanted to fall asleep again.

The ripped leave whirled around for a short time before it finally stoped on the grass.

Jake Baker settled his bag and entered school.

--

The first thing he recognized was that Cameron was not there.

Cameron was his best friend he met at the skate park once. Their thoughts immediatly were indantical, the sound of the same music coming out of their iPots.

"Cool trick", Cameron had said the first time they met.

And Jake had answered, in his played self-content way, that he was just going through a warm up.

--

The big thing about September was, that it was the beginning of autumn and autumn was followed by winter and in winter the possibilities to skate were rare. Thinking of that, Jake sighed when he entered the class room.

He was already late and his teacher gave him a bad look while Jake tried to reach his chair as silent as possible.

The desk next to him, Cameron´s desk, was empty.

Lesson started and the rain continued to fall outside of the window. It was no bad rain, just a minor rain, but it floated him back in his mind, some memories flashing through his head.

The maths class would not even miss him.

--

_"I can do a new trick." Camerons voice was excited. _

_"So?", Jake asked him, trying to sound not too much interessted. It was their way of talking about __skating, always to do as if the other one was just a easy one to beat. _

_"Yeah, you´ll see, it´s the best trick I know."_

_Jake had to laugh a bit. "The best trick _you _know."_

_"Yeah, not everyone can be a Tony Hawk, Jake. Remember how you fell down last week while trying __this one thing?" _

_Jake´s laugh immediatly broke into caughs. _

_"That was an accident. I was concentrating on the hot girl."_

_"The hottest girl who was around was a man who weight 100 pounds."_

_"Shut up Cam, we have to listen to our maths teacher." Jake could not do else as grinning._

"Jake!"

Jake jerked up. Shit! He had missed Mr. Ferguson talking to him. And he did not know the solution to the task at the board, too.

"Sorry, , I...."

"Mr. Sheffield wants you in his office, Jake."

The headmaster? What trouble had he got himself into?

"Oh."

He stood up, took his bag and walked out of the class room, feeling twenty pairs of eyes following him.

Whatever he had done this time, his Dad would be really pissed.

--

_"Fell down?"_

_"Huh?" It seemed like Cameron had been lost in thoughts before his friend talked to him. _

_"Did you fell down with your board? You´ve got a black eye."_

_"Uh..yeah. Pretty hard crash, I think." _

_"Why didn´t you tell me."_

_"It was just a skating accident, wasn´t it?"_

_--_

Sitting in the chair in front of the headmasters desk was really uncomfortable. Jake shifted from his right side to his left one, only to decide to put his hands under his legs.

It seemed to be like yesterday he had been here for the last time.

--

_"So.."_

_Mr. Sheffield´s eyes were focused on the report he hold in his hands. __Jake and Cameron exchanged gazes. _

_"Miss Thomas writes that you two _skated in the school building _and _broke down a window."

_"Uh, yeah...hmm." What should they say? That it wasn´t true? Hell, half of the school had seen __them. To be honest, that had been what they´d wanted._

_"We´re really sorry, ", Cameron said. "But, it was...absolutly nesscessary."_

_The man looked up and lifted his eyebrows. "And that would be beacuse..."_

_"...if we would have walked we would have come too late to our English lesson and...you told us, __that Miss Thomas told you, that if we ever would come late to our English lesson again, __we would __detantion."_

_It was really hard to not brake into laughter watching the anry expression on headmaster Sheffields __face._

_--_

This time Sheffields face was field with sorrows. Jake could tell that. He knew that face, it was the way his father looked when he had sorrows.

"I am sorry to tell you Jake, that I got a call a few minutes ago, about your friend Cameron being in an accident."

His throat constricted.

The words almost did not leave his lips.

"What do you mean?"

"As I was told, he was skating in his house, something did go wrong and he fell down the stairs."

He...Jake I am sorry, but he was dead immediately."

The first seconds Jake did not understand what this man wanted to say. His mind did not work, but his hands started to tremble under his legs, making his whole body shift.

"I am sorry, Jake. Your father will be here soon and take you home."

--

_"Jake?"_

_"Hmm."_

_"May I tell you a secret?"_

_"Okay."_

_"But, you have to promise you will shut up and never tell anyone."_

_"Okay."_

_"You promise?"_

_"I promise, Cam. What´s the matter?"_

_His friend shifted nervously. _

_"You remember the day you asked me where I got the black eye from, because there was snow and __it could not have been a skating incident?"_

_"Huh...yeah." It did not matter to Jake. _

_"It wasn´t from skating. It was my Dad. He...he hit me."_

_There was no possible responds Jake could think of, so they fell silence. _

_"Does he...does he do it often?", Jake then asked. _

_"Sometimes. Once a week or so. Only if he becomes angry."_

_--_

"Hey, Jake."

The soft sound of his father jerked him back to reality.

"You okay?" It was not often that his father was so calm.

Jake did not answer the question. He recognized they were at home now and he already could imagine his mother waiting with a hot chocolate and a hug. He wanted to say that he was okay, but he could not lie at his father.

"I´m going in my room, I think", he said.

His feet felt heavy while walking up the stairs to his room. He was tired.

Even his hands were to worn out too put his shoes off.

Jake fell down on his bed and started to cry.


	18. The district sleeps alone tonight

_**First of all, many thanks to **Donny304, sillysnowswirls **and **Lauren-95 **for reviewing. **_

_**Second. Here, after weeks, is the next chapter, and I have to say, its not as nice as I wished it should be, but I tried to let it sound credible, and so I tried to remember how I felt when I visited Paris, France, and as great the city is, I was in a bad mood and there were some things that really got on my nerves so it wasn´t a nice visit. **_

_**That´s what Jessica is going through, I think. **_

**The district sleeps alone tonight **_(Jessica)_

The darkness covered the complex of high buildings growing from the earth into the sky, higher and higher while she was moving on.

She started to feel the weight of her bag about two hours ago and still she had no place to stay.

Slow, almost as if she wanted time to stand still she turned around in a circle and regarded the buildings that surrounded her.

Even now, when it was dark, the city seemed big.

Jessica turned her head,. Her eyes following a taxi drving along the road.

She remembered her mother being full of sorrow about her little girl and she remembered herself thinking of it as something riddiculous.

Now, she new what her mother treid to tell her when she said, that D.C. Was much bigegr then she thought.

It had been one of Jessicas greatest wishes, to visit the capital of the Uinited States, at least once, but now, when she stood in the middle of Washington in the middle of the night, her eyes not sure where to look first and her feet were to tired to follow any indroductions of her mind for longer then a minute.

She just wanted a bed.

The man at the motel wasn´t as nice as you would wish him to be. He had a faked grin and tired eyes and more then one tooth less in his mouth then Jessica found comfortable.

As soon as she had her key, she ran upstairs and locked in her room.

Then again, the city catched her. She watched the cars passing by like ants in a big circus,

until her eyelids dropped and she had to go to bed.

Everyone knew she was just a visitor.

The way she moved, her clothes, the bag on her back. Definitly she was not the only visitor.

It took her more then an hour to fight through the tonnes of people.

After an hour, her back hurt and she was freezing under her jacket, but she did not want to took out another sweater because there was no place to stop without having the feeling as if you were going under in a flush of people and other surroundings.

Tourists after tourist were staple themselves everywhere and it was loud and of cause there was no free place to rest.

You could, that after a little more then an hour, Jessica had no fun being in one of the most important cities in the world.

Nightfall wasn´t coming as Jessica wished for.

Hours and hours she was turning around her neck hurting from the bag she carried the whole day and the lights on the streets made her nervous.

And damn, she missed her family.

She had been on math camp for two weeks without them, even without her twin Kim, but never she had missed her family as much as now.

A light flattered on the street and went off.

Jessica jumped up on her feet and new, she would go home. Now. She packed her thing, either most of them were still in her bags, left the key by the man at the entry and almost ran down to the train station.

When she watched the city pass by behind the window of the wagon, she decided that it was sad, but that one day, when she would be ready, she could return, but for tonight, D.C. Would be able to sleep on its own.


	19. Stop crying your heart out

_**Hello again after a long time. I am really sorry I did not update any sooner but my head was empty, no idea was forming inside. **_

_**Of course I want to thank the reviewers, **Donny304 **and **Lauren-95 **and **Finnigan Irish** (really, you think the Jessica story is the best? Just because of the title or because of the content ...:D)**_

_**1st: Cheaper by the dozen is not mine**_

_**2nd: English is not my native language. **_

_**3rd: The Chapter Title is a song from **Oasis. _

_**Stop crying your heart out **__Sarah_

It was one in the night when Sarah finally decided to get up to look after her sister.

You could tell that it was getting on Sarah´s nerves, because it was the third night in a row.

The clock showed one in the night and the soft sobs of her little sister Kim were coming up to her ear from the next room and she rolled her eyes, someone had to do something about it or the girl would cry herself into a puddle which would dry into the carpet and ruin it and Mum would definitely not like that.

Hell, she just broke up with her boyfriends Martin again, again, because they broke up about what seemed like every month and after another week everything was fine again and they were the happiest couple ever.

It totally sucked. When Elliott broke up with her, she, Sarah, cried a bit but then Henry talked to her and everything was fine again, but Henry was at college now and no other person seemed to be responsible for this crying girl in the next room. It definitely sucked.

The wind howled around the house but it wasn´t loud enough to drown Kim´s sobs. Sarah got up and stepped to her window watching the night.

It was summer but where they lived that did not mean anything. The sun did not shine as bright as it should, the temperature was to low and no one was really happy, not like the commercial on TV, which was of course set in California, said.

There was a holy storm outside and Sarah had to admit that it weren´t Kim´s sobs which kept her awake, it was the storm itself and her own thoughts which grew in her mind. Next week her tests in school started, those which were really important for her college time.

She looked down on the ground were her toes kept moving without Sarah´s wish for it.

Sighing, she turned around and made her way to Kim´s room.

The knock on the door was so soft that Sarah wondered if Kim was able to hear it under the steady howls of wind but the sobs behind suddenly stopped abruptly and everything in the room went so still Sarah knew Kim must have heard her.

Without waiting for an answer, which would sure not come, Sarah entered the room and faced her sister. Kim was lying on the bed and watched her angry, with tears in her eyes.

"What´ya want?", Kim cried.

That was not the language she used to use and Sarah raised an eyebrow. Also she did not want Kim to scream, because that would wake up the whole house and the last thing they needed was an angry Tom, punish them for screaming in the night.

"I just wanted to look after you. Heard you crying."

"I´m not crying."

Sarah raised her other eyebrow.

"Sure you´re not."

Next thing she did was closing the door and walking over to the bed. If Jessica and Kim would still share a room, it would not be her problem, Sarah decided. If Henry would still be here, it would not be her problem. If Mom would not become a little deaf with getting older, it would not be Sarah´s problem. But now it was Sarah´s problem, and she had to face it.

When Kim did not answer, Sarah started to speak again.

"See, I was only was going to say, that you really have to stop crying your heart out because of this son of a bitch. How often has he left you now? Three times, four? And you always take him back. It´s your own fault if you´re this stupid, Kim."

"Oh, I am stupid? What do you even know of love?"

"I know a lot Kim, more then you think. I am not that bitch without feelings you think I am."

The wind became louder while Sarah said this, as if it became angry about those two girls shouting in the night.

"You don´t understand", Kim cried.

"No, I don´t."

"Then go away. Leave me alone, I don´t need you."

The amazing thing was how much those words hurt. Five minutes ago, Sarah had been sure that Kim did not need her, Sarah was about ignoring the sobs of her little sister and to be an ass without feelings and now Kim was about stabbing her with the same knife which Sarah suddenly had decided to drop on the floor to help her?

Sarah turned around in anger and was about to shut the door behind her with a loud noise when she gave her little sister one last look. Something told her that for once she should ignore the poisoned tension which grew between them and don´t talk back like she normally did.

"If you decide in another way, Kim. You know where my room is."

Then she shut the door and went back to her bed.

It was one in the night when Sarah finally decided to get up to look after her sister.

It was two in the night when her own door opened and Kim tiptoed to her bed, lying down next to her. Smiling to herself, Sarah put an arm around Kim and fell asleep.


	20. Here comes the sun

_**Hello!  
Many thanks to my Beta **VladdieChicca.  
**Many thanks to **Donny304 **for your review. Here is the chapter about Lorraine you wished for. I hope you´ll like it.  
And many thanks for the review from **Lauren-95. **It´s good to hear that the title fitted for the chapter, I love Oasis.  
And many thanks to **Number 8.0 **for your reviews. What do you mean with "What happened to Jake, Mark and Nigel"?,  
that sentence confused me.**__** Explain what you mean and then I try to answer the question.**_

**__****"Here comes the sun" is a song written by George Harrison. **

Disclaimer: _Nope, Cheaper by the dozen still doesn´t belong to me. _

_**Here comes the sun **__Lorraine_

The rain was falling from sky as if each drop was racing to find a place on the earth.

Lorraine sat still at her table, sighing as she looked out the window. Her neck and her shoulders hurt from sitting too long, and her eyes screamed at her to let them rest a bit.

But Lorraine ignored it all, trying to focus on the papers in front of her. In the kitchen her friend Susan was baking cookies and their smell found its way into her room, where she really tried to concentrate on her work.

It reminded her of Midland, and one of her first memories that wasn't only a faded picture.

_She sat at the window of their kitchen, watching the rain pour down. _

_Daddy was at work, Nora in school, Charlie at his friends and little Henry was asleep. Lorraine knew because when she wanted to play with him, Mummy had taken her out of the room and told her not to wake him up. _

_Mummy looked funny because she had a round belly with another baby in it. Only one more month she explained, and they would have a new sibling. But Lorraine didn't know how long a month was. _

_So she sat at the window in kitchen and watched the rain, while Mummy was washing the dishes and the cookies were becoming brown in the oven, when suddenly she recognized something that confused her. So she asked Mummy. _

"_Why does it rain?"_

"_Because the plants need the water to grow."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes, sweetie. Remember when I give our plants in the house water? That´s important to keep them alive."_

_Lorraine turned her head to the grey sky again and tried to remember how it felt when the raindrops fell on her skin. The clouds were everywhere, you couldn't even see the sun. That confused Lorraine, because when the sun did not shine, Lorraine had to sleep. _

"_What happened to the sun?"_

"_She is behind the clouds, darling."_

"_How did she get there?"_

"_The clouds just moved with the wind and covered it."_

"_But, how will we ever be able to see it again?" Lorraine fretted._

_Mummy laughed and it almost sounded like an angel laughing. Those days, Lorraine believed her mummy was an angel. _

"_The wind will carry the clouds away and then we can see the sun again. You know that Lorraine, you saw it rain a lot before."_

"_When will that happen?"_

_Her mummy shrugged. "When the time comes."_

_So, since her mummy didn't know when the sun would come out again, Lorraine had to wait and watch the sky._

_She still sat there when Nora came in, wet to her skin, shaking her head. "It´s raining. And I wanted to ride my bike today." The cookies were finished and made her smile. _

"_You wanna play tea party, Lorraine?"_

"_No, I have to watch the clouds."_

"_Why?"_

"_I want to see how they get away and the sun shines again." Nora shrugged and went to her room. _

_Henry woke up and Mummy made him sit at the table. _

"_Want to help me to feed Henry, Lorraine?"_

"_No, Mummy, I don´t want to miss the sun come out."_

_But it continued raining, heavy clouds hanging on the sky._

_She still sat there when the mum of Charlie´s friend brought him back and he climbed on a chair next to Lorraine._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_I'm watching the sky. I'm waiting for the sun to come out."_

"_That´s boring. Let´s play with the football Dad gave me."_

"_No, I want to see the sun come out."_

_So Lorraine sat there. Her knees hurt from kneeling so long, her back was stiff from not changing position. She still sat there when her Daddy was coming home, and Mummy started to cook. _

_Daddy gave her a kiss on her cheek and asked her what she was doing._

"_I'm waiting for the sun to come out."_

_It was hard for Mummy to let Lorraine to sit down at her place at the table and force her to eat. _

"_You can watch the sky from here, too." But the sun wasn´t coming. _

_And after dinner, Lorraine had to go to bed. She begged and pleaded, grabbed her father´s feet, but she had no choice. _

"_It´s getting dark. You won´t be able to see the sun, Lorraine" he explained to her. _

_And as much Lorraine tried to stay awake to see the sun come out, it did not work and her eyes fell shut and she was asleep._

_The next morning was a Saturday. Lorraine knew that because Daddy woke her up, not Mummy. _

_Abruptly, she sat up and turned her head to the window. The sun was shining bright and her face went dark._

"_What´s wrong, darling?" Her daddy stroked her hair out of her face. _

"_I didn't see the sun come out. Missed it."_

"_No problem, honey. One day you will."_

Lorraine stretched her back and smiled when the rain stopped, the clouds went away and the sun started to shine.

**_So, there are left _**_Tom, Kate, Mark, Kyle, Nigel, Henry, Kim, Charlie and Mike **because I did a mistake and wrote 2 chapters about **Sarah** this  
round, what means, if I´ll ever do an other round, Sarah´ll be left out. I hope that´s not too bad. So, what chapter do you wish for?**_


	21. Sympathy for the Devil

**_Many thanks to my Beta _**_VladdieChica. _

_**Many thanks to **Number 8.0. **Here is a chapter about Mark, as you wished. The Nigel chapter will come soon, but first I will fullfill the wish of **Donny304**(whom I really want to thank for the review!) and write a chapter about Mike. **_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Cheaper by the dozen or the Song that gave the title to the chapter.**_**  
**_

Sympathy of the Devil (Mark)

_(a well known song by The Rolling Stones)_

"It is easy, Baker", Josh told me. "You walk into the church and ask the reverend why there´s no window that shows Lucifer, because in your eyes he was the most holy archangel. Then you start to sing the refrain of "Losing my religion"."

(_A.N: Perhaps I watched too much "Supernatural")_

Josh and his best friends, Luke and Michael, were some of the coolest guys I knew. They formed the coolest gang of all the guys my age and I would anything to be a part of it.

"That´s everything?" I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Josh gave Luke and Michael a look. "That´s all" he confirmed.

For a moment, I hesitated. But then I braced myself, trying to ignore the weird feeling in my, stomach and entered the church.

It was cold; lighted by candles. It smelled like Christmas though it was middle of August.

There were only a few people here. Two old women sat on different pews to my left and prayed, a man in his forties collected the bibles, and the reverend stood at the altar, back to me, reading something.

I took a deep breath, telling myself that this was nothing more than a really stupid test of courage and I had nothing more to fear than a man of the Church becoming a bit angry with me.

While I made my way through the pews, the holy forms frozen in the glass of the windows watched me; the back of my neck prickled and I started to hum _"Losing My Religion", _because I was pretty sure I had forgotten the song already.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I reached the front. The reverend still had his back turned to me, and I did not want to interrupt him. Standing here until the end of days seemed suddenly much more comfortable.

I looked back to the entry for a short moment, seeing Josh and the others standing there, thumbs up.

Sighing, I turned to the reverend again and cleared my throat.

Reverend Ryan was always a nice person. He was not so old, only in his late forties I think, and he had always an open ear for everyone. He knew me, because everybody knew the Bakers, my mother sometimes talked to him, even if the rest of us weren't _that _religious. But on Sunday, she still took some of us to church.

"Ah, you´re Mark Baker, aren´t you?" the reverend asked.

This whole thing would have been _so _much easier if he hadn't known me. I tried to calm myself down; telling myself that it was just a test. For a moment I wondered if I didn't sing; only moved my mouth, Josh and the boys wouldn't know the difference. After all, they were pretty far away

"Yeah...erm... may I ask you a question?" I turned around again, noticing that the others still were still there. They wanted to make sure that I went through with this

"Of course, Mark."

"Me and my friends...we wondered why there", I took a deep breath, "why there´s no window that shows Lucifer."

Reverend Ryan gave Josh a look, then turned back to me

"That´s because he fell, Mark. He was jealous of human kind and god ...eh...kicked him out of heaven."

I nodded. Now I had to sing, but first, I had to say that I adored Lucifer, but my throat was closed, I couldn't make a sound.

"You´re going to sing now?"

I shrugged; I really didn't know.

He sighed. "Mark, why is it important to be with Josh and his friends?"

That question confused me.

"They're cool."

"Is it cool to make you feel uncomfortable because they want you to sing "Losing My Religion" in a church?"

"How do you know that?"I blurted out the words before I could think. I didn't want to show him he was right.

"Because Josh and his friends did that, too, Mark."

I didn't answer. For a moment, I wanted to sing, because that was what I´d been told to do, but now, after the reverend told me that, it seemed even more stupid then before. If that was even possible.

"So," reverend Ryan continued. "You can decide now, if you really want to sing and next week you send another boy here to do it, or you can just go home and find other friends. And by the way...I think it´s much braver to do waht you feel is right than to let others push you around."

All I could do was nod. My feet carried me away; I felt numb.

"You didn't sing", Josh stated incredulously when I reached them.

"No." I walked home, leaving them standing there to think what they want.


	22. Radios in Heaven

_**Many thanks to my Beta **VladdieChica_**_. It was from no episode. It was just because of angels and so on (and the song).  
Many thanks to _**_Donny304 **and **Number 8.0. **I like to fullfill your wishes, so here is a chapter about Mike. It´s sad. **_

Radios in Heaven_Mike (Song by the Plain White T´s)_

When he heard the news, he didn't know what to think. Some say it was like a cold pit in their stomach, but he didn't feel a thing. He was numb.

He saw his parents watching him sadly, but all he could do was walking into his room, shut the door and sit down on the bed.

For ages, he did nothing; a zombie.

Maria had been his best friend. Some of the guys in school had laughed at him because his best friend was a girl, but Mike never cared, because Maria wasn't like Lorraine or Nora. Not even Sarah was as cool as her.

And all the other kids who were making jokes about them were only jealous.

He remembered well what they said. "Mike and Maria sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

With a red face he´d run away, to Maria´s, were she and a big plate of pasta already waiting for him. Her mother always had a smile on her face when he visited them and his dad had always a grin on his when he brought him home.

Normally, they would run through the streets, even when it was raining. But when Maria got sick, they stopped and Mike was okay with it.

Those days, they loved to lay in his bed, watching the ceiling and listen to the radio, the music, the nonsense the speaker was saying...

"Do you think they´ve got radios in heaven?"She asked one day in August.

And suddenly, he realized what it meant to be this sick.

He turned around to see her nowadays; her bare head, and tried to think of an answer. An answer that would tell her that she would _not_ die without saying it directly.

"It´s nothing you have to worry about."

"I do!" she said. Her tone was not angry or sad or anything. She said it with absolute certainity. And in that moment, he knew she would die, no matter what the doctors tried. Because she knew she would die and she was okay with it.

Mike sat up then, trying to ignore the feeling of sickness that grew in his stomach and faced the wall.

"I don´t care" he said.

Later he realized that was the worst thing he could have ever said, but then he had no other words to say. He was only eleven years old and he did not know what to say when someone was going to die. Especially not when this someone was his best friend.

Maria had sat up, too. "If they _do_ have them, I´ll always think of you when I´m listening to it."

He had sighed, rubbing his suddenly tired eyes and hoped she would change the subject.

"Will you think of me when you´re listening to the radio when I´m gone?" she asked.

He watched his hands for a while, thinking, before he knew the right answer.

"When you´re gone," he said, "I'll never listen to the radio again."

Looking back, it had been a stupid promise. But now, feeling the tears burning behind his eyes, he wanted to keep that promise until the day he died. Forever.

There was a soft knock at the door and he knew it was Mum or Dad, or Jake or Sarah or anyone else who cared. But he didn't want anyone to care. He really wished they wouldn't care. E wished they would let go of the thought what happened. He wished Maria wouldn´t have cared those days back in August when she wanted to talk about heaven. He wished he would have answered a simple "yes", just to make her happy once more in her short life.

**Please review.**


	23. Dust in the Wind

_**Hello guys! Here I am again. Sorry it took me so long, but I needed an idea, which wasn´t there for some time. **_

_**Many thanks to my beta **VladdieChica**, for reviewing, too. **_

_**Many thanks to **Number 8.0 **and **Donny304 **for reviewing. I´m glad you liked it. **_

_**Here is the chapter about Nigel. **_

_**Disclaimer: Not mine. **_

**Dust in the Wind**

Nigel

_(A Song by _Kansas)

The sun hung low over the house of the Bakers. It hadn't been giving off much heat these days.

Nigel Baker found himself at the end of the garden, watching the blue sky. It looked fake.

Turning his head away from the sky, back on earth, he saw his eldest brother Charlie sitting outside of the garden on the curbside, head in his hands.

The circumstances – the whole way Charlie was sitting there – seemed strange to the young boy and he walked over to his brother.

„Hey Charlie", he said.

Charlie looked up as from a dream and answered with a soft „Hey Nigel", turned around and hit his head in his hands again.

Even if Nigel wasn´t that old, he recognized that something was wrong with his brother.

„Are you okay, Charlie?", he asked because of that.

„Yeah, yeah – I´m okay."

It did not sound honestly in anyway, and Nigel had no idea, why Charlie was lying to him.

Suddenly their mother back in the house called them for dinner, but Nigel refused to go when Charlie did not move an inch, but instead watched nothing certain in front of him. Perhaps he did not hear Mum.

„Mum called for dinner", Nigel said because of that.

Charlie looked up again. „Yeah – just go, okay? I'll come in soon."

Second lie, Nigel decided and even if his stomach was growling a bit, he suddenly sat down next to Charlie and stared forward, too.

The wind blew from all sides, flew through their hair and kissed their cheeks not so softly, but still kind of lulling.

„What´s wrong with you?", Nigel asked while looking down on his shoes.

Sighing, Charlie shifted into a different position. „You´re not giving up, are you?"

„I don´t think so", Nigel said.

His words made Charlie smirk a bit.

„I doubt you'd understand."

That was exactly what Nigel expected, but – in some way – he found it unfair and unnecessary.

„I understand a lot more then you might think."

Nodding, Charlie faced the other side of the road.

„Yeah – maybe", he said.

A few leaves went on with the wind, flew from east to west and from west to east.

Charlie took a deep breath and plucked a leaf right out of the wind, and then started to try to explain.

„It´s just that ... I doubt that... you know, I found my way, but it doesn't involve college and I – Dad -", he shook his head softly, „he´s not accepting it. Whatever I do to prove that my way can be the right one, he´s not listening – He played football, so I´ve got to play football, too. It´s not that I don´t like it, but – what I mean is that – he went to college, so I´ve got to go to college, too. He – you know, when I was your age -"

„I hate sentences that start like that", Nigel interrupted him.

„Start like what?"

„´When I was your age...`"

Laughing a bit, Charlie turned the leave in his hand. He was quiet now, so Nigel tried to form his thoughts into words, which wasn´t so easy.

„I don´t think Dad would be angry if you do what you want."

„He just wouldn´t understand it. He wouldn´t understand and would be too disappointed that being a football star just isn't possible for me."

This dream is just dust that flies with the wind in thousand directions. Most dreams are -"

Nigel gulped and interrupted Charlie before he could finish his sentence.

„I´m hungry – let´s go inside and eat dinner."

Perhaps Charlie has been right and he, Nigel, really was too young for it.

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think about this oneshot. **

**You then can also choose between Tom, Kate, Charlie, Henry, Kim and Kyle for the next chapter. **


	24. Carry on my Wayward Son

_**Hello!  
Many thanks to **VladdieChica **for betareading and reviewing. You´ll get a Kate chapter next time, I just need an idea. **_

_**Many thanks to **Number 8.0 **fir reviewing. **_

_**And many thanks to **Donny304 **for reviewing, too. See, here´s a Charlie chapter and it´s called "Carry on my wayward son". **_

_Author´s Note:_ _Normally I´m writing these oneshots in the third person POV, but I read a german story a few minutes ago which does not let me go, which had a first person narrator, so I feel unable to write in third person POV. The story also inspired me to this shot. _

_The word wayward does not really fit, but the rest of the text:  
"__Lay your weary head to rest  
Don't you cry no more  
Once I rose above the noise and confusion  
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion"_

_Disclaimer:__ Neither Cheaper by the dozen, nor the song "Carry on my wayward son" is mine. _

Carry on my wayward son _(Charlie)_

_(Song by Kansas)_

My hand collided with the hard wall. Pain went through my right hand, flashed through my whole body, until it ended in my hand again.

I took deep breath, leaned my head on the cold wall, and closed my eyes.

I heard the hushed, somber voices, but I didn't understand the words. I didn't want to understand what they were saying. The flushing of the toilette behind the door, two meters to my right, the tiptoeing steps of the guests of the requiem behind me. And to my left, Gunner, my family´s dog, barking, not listening to whichever of my sisters trying to keep him calm.

Opening my eyes again, but still not shifting in my position, I watched the white wall, tried to focus on the coloured points which were – so I knew – only in front of my eyes, an optical illusion, dancing up and down, appearing, disappearing, holding on for a moment, vanishing then, until only the white wall was left.

Suddenly there was some weight on my shoulder, grabbing it with a soft pressure. It told me to turn around and for a moment, I wanted to ignore it, but then, with a sigh, I turned around and faced whoever stood behind me. It was dad.

He had grown old within the last years, but his black suit was the same as this which he wore on grandma´s funeral, ten years ago.

"Hey Charlie."His voice was soft, barely a whisper and the smile on his face was so sad, that it was ironic that it was called a smile.

"Dad." There were no more words left. This lonely one, was the only one I could bring over my lips. The only one I could think of. What else should I say today?

My mouth was dry and when I licked my lips it only seemed to make everything worse.

"I just thought you would like to go to sit in the garden, away from – the guests."

When we walked down the floor, we passed the living room and for short moment, I could catch a glimpse on Annie´s parents, sitting on the white couch. I gulped, not wanting to imagine how hard it was to lose a daughter.

To my surprise, the garden was empty, except for Gunner, who got to his favourite tree and did his business. For a second I wondered how he´d gotten himself so fast from the floor into the garden, but it wasn´t important. Nothing was important anymore.

We sat down on a bench which was actually only a log, which Henry and me placed here the summer after we moved to Chicago, before I left to work in the garage, before the summer at the lake where Annie and I met again, after so many years, and nothing was like it had been.

The sky was blue. No cloud could be seen, but it wasn´t warm. It was autumn, October, and I wondered why I had never noticed before, that October was a completely useless month. No one needed October.

We sat there in silence, staring forward into eternity, me not wanting to say anything, Dad not knowing what to say.

I leaned my head back and watched the completely blue sky. It looked so near, so present, but I knew, when I would reach out for it, I would never get it, never. Like Annie.

My Dad shifted in his position and I knew he wanted to say something. Without regarding him, I could see him lick his lips, knot his hands, frown, so every wrinkle on his forehead could be seen and lift his right foot only to set it down three seconds later. It was always the right foot, never the left.

"You know Charlie", he suddenly said, "It´s – you look at the future now and you see nothing – I think- and I just wanted to tell you, that it´s not true. There's s_omething_. Maybe today ait will only be glimpse, but every journey continues, even if you don´t know where to go; and there might be a point where you think that it's all over, but – you just stop for while, to turn in another direction and go on in this direction then. And", he took a deep breath, "there might be things that force you to stop for a while, but it´s okay. You can rest for a while, but then you go on, because it´s what you need to do, and it´s what Annie would wanted."

Her name was like hard shape in my heart. I inhaled the cold air and hold on my breath for a moment, then I breathed again and just stared forward. My dad got up without another word and went away.

I stayed there for a long while, but I got up and went on.

**Please leave a review. **


	25. The Sound of Silence

_**Okay guys, I know it´s like forever that I haven´t updated, but I haven´t been at home for a while.**_

_**So here is a Kate Chapter because my beta - **VladdieChica** - wished for it. Many thanks for betareading and reviewing by the way.  
**_

_**I also want to thank **Donny304, Number 8.0 **and **athenarox **for reviewing. It was my first try in first person narration for who knows how long.  
**_

The Sound of Silence

_Kate_

A Song by _Simon & Garfunkel_

It was silent in the house. Kate wasn't used to this.. She knew it as loud and full of life and laughter. Every now and then someone said _"Hey Mama" _when they passed her in the hall, before the person rushed in to their room again. Sometimes they would slam it, forcing Kate to admonish them.

Silent.

Silence sometimes had been here greatest wish. One moment of calm, relaxing silence. Now, it was there, the silence. She had what she wanted. But it wasn´t any good.

With Nigel and Kyle gone last year, the last of the kids had left the house and now, no one was left. Kate realized that this house was much too big for Tom and her alone.

Walking down the hall, upstairs, Kate tried to remember how it had been when the kids still lived all here. She remembered Charlie, rushing down the stairs in haste, because he was late for football training, or he wanted to visit his girlfriend Beth in Midland. Almost hearing the steps, she smiled as she remembered how he just told her good bye and then abruptly left, not really telling her where he was going,. Perhaps because he knew that she already knew.

Finally Kate reached the top of the stairs, held on to the banister for a moment, and took a deep breath. Her hand stroked the railing of the stairs, then she forced herself to let go, she starred at the hall of the top floor.

A picture of Jake on his skateboard _in the house, _trying out a new trick, came to her mind. Kate had to laugh when she remembered herself always almost getting a heart attack when he fell down, also she knew, that within the next moment, her son would stand up again, with a smile on his face, and say _"I´m fine". _

She walked along the long floor, regarding the pictures the kids drew when they were younger which still hang at the wall. One picture – she knew so well that it had been Lorraine which drew it when she was four – showed the family. It wasn´t the whole family. Only her and Tom, Nora, Charlie, Henry and Lorraine herself. That was all there was of the family then. Kate's belly had been drawn so round, she could have been pregnant with triplets, but it had only been Sarah.

The picture hung next to Nigel and Kyle's old room. The door stood open and Kate looked inside. The chamber still looked as it did when Kyle – who had the room as his own the last few years – was living in it. Suddenly, Kate saw the youngest twins again, lying, fighting on the floor, laughing and grinning simultaneously. She had to laugh, because they´d always been so happy together, even in the last years of high school, but then she remembered, that nowadays, the two weren´t so close anymore. While Kyle went to college, Nigel started to work directly at graduation.

She closed the door and went to the bathroom.

Opening the door, Kate almost thought Lorraine would be standing in front of the mirror now, turning her head to whoever entered the room, perhaps with a sigh, telling the person to go away, because she was doing her makeup. But Lorraine wasn´t there anymore. And so Kate stepped into the bathroom and regarded herself in the mirror for a while. She looked old. Her hair had grown white and her face was full of wrinkles. Her clothes weren´t modern anymore, either. What Lorraine would have said if she would have seen her now?

Kate left the bathroom and went on, walked along the floor while watching the pictures of her children. While passing Henry´s old room, something broke the silence. The sound of a clarinette reached Kates ear so that, for a short moment, she thought it was really there, and for a second she wanted to open the door to listen to it. But she knew it was all an illusion, just an illusion. So she let go of the doorknob and went on.

Something strange touched her feet and she turned her head down to see what it was.

On the wooden floor laid a paper, the handwriting delicate and flowing.  
_Hey Mum,  
I´m sorry I came home late last night, but James took me out. It was so wonderful.  
I know I should´ve called, but it was so unplanned that I forgot. Please don´t be angry, I´m helping you with dinner tonight. _

_Kim _

Kate bit her lip. She remembered this evening very well, the first time Kim – who had always been so reliable - had not come home. That was the day she had the painful realization that her little girl wasn't so little anymore.

Turning the paper over in her hands, numbers and letters sprang to her eyes: algebra.

It was so unbelievable that Kim had been so madly in love that she used her algebra homework paper to write this letter.

Kate folded the letter and out it into her pocket, continuing her walk through the house. The walk through memories.

Tom wasn´t at home. He was out with some of his friends. He did not work anymore. Yes, they´d become old in these last years.

At the end of the floor was a window. A wooden desk was placed in front of it, but something was wrong with the picture. Normally, in the past, there´d always been a lacross stick, because this had been Sarah´s place to work – when she really worked. But the stick wasn´t there anymore. Sarah took it with her when she went away. Never again there would be the loud knock of it against a door, never again Sarah – the Sarah she used to know – would wake up and be so loud everybody else in the house would wake up, too. There was no one else in the house to wake up anymore.

Except for Tom and her.

With a sharp breath, Kate turned on her heels and stepped down the hallway very quickly. She rushed down the stairs and entered the kitchen, filled a glass with water, and drank.

Her gaze went to the window and, somehow, she almost expected Mike to appear there, hanging upside-down off the roof. Kate shook her head and leaned against the counter.

The table was clean, no dishes, no glasses. It was unnatural, Kate decided.

Then – there had always stood so many dishes and glasses and plates that Kate often had lost track of them all. And when she once tried to tidy it all up, mostly suddenly a frog had jumped out of it and had watched her with big eyes until Mark came, took it into his hands and gave her an apologizing look, being embarrassed that that he had lost his frog _again. _

And then, perhaps, Jessica would have entered the kitchen and told Mark to put this ugly frog away. Ready to bombard Kate with questions about physics that she sure would not be able to answer, and in the end, it would be Jessica who would explain the task to her, Kate, the mother, the adult.

Suddenly the phone rang. Kate´s heart made a jump and she rushed to the telephone to answer the call as if it was all she had been waiting for it the entire day.

"Hey Mum, it´s me, Nora."

"Hey darling. How are you doing?"

"Oh, I´m fine. See, I wondered if I could come to dinner tonight?"

"Oh darling, that would be so great."

_I hope every kid got as much attention in this as the others do. _

_**Let me see, who´s left? Tom, Henry, Kim and Kyle, I think. Did I forget one? Their are so many...**  
_


	26. It s cool we can still be friends

_**Many thanks to **VladdieChica** and **Number 8.0 **for your reviews. **_

_**Okay, guys, I know it has been a long time since I updated, and I am really sorry. But I hope you can forgive me and I hope you like this one here.**_

_**All mistakes are mine!  
**_

It´s cool we can still be friends 

_A sad song_

_by_

_**Bright Eyes **_

Kim

And now she was standing on the porch of his house and watched the closed door.

Autumn leaves washed around her feet while she stepped from one feet to the other and breathed in her hands. They were shaking, shaking to much too do such an easy thing as ringing the bell.

But he had told her, that she could come whenever she wanted, whenever she thought it was necessary. Even if it was over now. Even if they were no lovers anymore.

It was windy outside and Kim closed her jacket. The hammock was still in the place it was when she and Ricky had sat in it, in summer, watching the clear night sky and all its stars.

Finally Kim had the strength to ring the bell.

It wasn´t him who opened the door, it was his mother.

"Ricardo´s not at home", she told her.

Kim nodded.

"But you can come in and wait for him, he will back in some time", his mother offered.

But Kim shook her head. No.

Too many memories.

"I´m just waiting outside, I think", she said.

"Isn´t that a little freezing?"

"No. It´s alright."

And so she sat down on the hammock.

Watching the white clouds while swinging softly on the hammock was had something extremely calming, but something very sad, too. She needed to bit her lips to not start to cry.

It was a little strange to whip on the hammock all alone, it was strange to be here, after all was over. But it wasn´t really over. They still were friends, weren´t they?

"Kim?"

She looked up. It was him. His face hadn´t changed a bit, still the cute one which made him look a little younger then he really was, but still handsome.

"Hey", she said while sitting up a bit.

"What´re you doing here?"

"You said I could come over whenever I wished to -"

He had his hands in his pockets and watched his feet for a while. Then he looked up.

"Yeah, that´s right." He smiled.

She swung back and forth a bit more now while watching him. It was so unbelievable that yesterday between them there had been so much, and now – she did not know what was between them now.

Ricky moved. He said down next to her, keeping his eyes on hers and his hands in his pockets.

"You´re okay, Kim?", he wondered. She nodded.

"Yeah, I´m okay." It was no lie. But it wasn´t true neither.

"So, what do you want?"

"I – I did not thought I have to want something specific to come here", she answered. He had been the one who had said they could still be friends, hadn´t he?

It was not fair that just in that moment, a single tear slipped from her eye. Of cause he saw it.

And automatically he wiped it away with his thump, but then, as if he remembered that they broke up, he held in for a moment and took his hand away.

Then, finally, she said what she was thinking.

"It´s not possible, is it? Just being friends -"

He did not answer immediately. "We could try", he then said.

"Our relationship brake a long time before but you nevertheless you said we could try. It did not work. Even if we tried. It would not work now, would it?" Her own words hurt so much. She did not want it to end. She liked him, damn she liked him so much, more then any other boy ever before.

Ricardo did not answer for a long time. Then he moved forward, kissed he cheek and said "I´m sorry."

Kim had closed her eyes. But she still could feel the hammock swing softly when he raised up and she could hear the door fell shut. And nevertheless she just sat there with closed eyes, as if it was a way to hold the moment for eternity.


End file.
